To be a Bug Catcher is My (new) Destiny
by Crossoverpairinglover
Summary: We've all seen fanfics tackle episode 4, but spacebattles presents a different take on it. When an armed man blocks your path in a forest, sometimes you battle him with cocoons. Other times you battle him with skills, and today is one of those days. In a race of both quantity and quality, what will Ash discover about himself. AU of the animeverse, characters still quite incharacter


After a discussion bit with a new writer and some banter on Spacebattles,Crososverpairinglover presents 'To be a Bug Catcher is My (new) Destiny': Name credit to Spacebattles user YDraigGoch94

Let's see what this looks like. Also yes, A.U to an extent.

...

The Viridian Forest was big.

At several points in his 13 years of life, Ash Ketchum had been told this. It was the eastern tail of a massive forest that stretched into the Johto region to the east, covering the Ransei and Silver mountain ranges and tailing off in an area that was apparently famous for charcoal.

He knew it was big, but it didn't really register as to how 'big' it really was until he entered his sixth day walking through it, and he was pretty sure it wasn't because he kept getting lost.

"You guys ever realize that if we didn't keep finding these berry trees, we'd be in trouble right?"

He didn't get an answer as his three Pokemon were currently attacking the bushel of Pecha berries that had sprung up in a gap in the tree cover: Pikachu had darted down for the bottom branches to avoid the competition between Butterfree and Pidgeotto.

Not waiting for an answer he reached for the middle Pecha bunch and began gobbling them down.

It was a lesson he'd take into account when he got out o this forest: never underestimate how much food he'd need.

When he got to Pewter City, he was going shopping. Quite possibly even before thinking of the Gym (if he had to be honest with himself, that would the case as long as he didn't walk past said gym while looking for a shop).

Thankfully he had found a ton of mushrooms he knew that were valuable for restaurants, and how to preserve them for gathering them for his mom's restaurant. He could sell them to make sure he had the funds to pay for himself.

Odd how he had the stuff on him to preserve rare mushrooms, but he didn't have extra rations.

"Wee."

Just as he swallowed the seventh berry the cry of a Pokemon caught his attention, and so he turned around on his heel and spun to see a brown worm crawling on a nearby tree.

He knew the species, though he was confused by something.

"Weedle, a common Pokemon known for the stingesr on its head and tail. As it matures into the evolved form Beedrill, this stingers goes from painful to quite deadly. The body of this Pokemon is covered in fine hairs."

The Pokedex said it itself: Weedle was common. Ash saw it all the time around Pallet Town's woods, and yet this was the first one he had seen in almost a week.

That was odd, but he wasn't going to split hairs on it. Time to get a fourth Pokemon, and seeing as Butterfree was done eating he could do it without being a jerk.

"String Shot!"

Butterfree obliged, and a sling of string shot out and tangled around the startled Weedle. With a yank the Weedle was then pulled towards them, and Ash grinned in imminent triumph.

The grin left as Weedle's stinger was now pointed right at his face and flying in at it.

Fortunately Butterfree slung the Weedle out of the way so he only felt a few body hairs tickle his nose as the bug was slammed into a tree instead, which he quickly followed up on by throwing a Pokeball at it.

He had three more of them, and he would also try to restock them if he could.

"That went better in my head."

Pikachu snarked a chirp back at him that sounded a bit too much like something Gary would say in this situation. Hopefully Pikachu wasn't telling him to 'smell him later'.

That would really suck.

Still regardless of what his Pokemon were actually saying, he couldn't help but feel something as the ball that had encased Weedle clinged, confirming that he now had a fourth Pokemon.

The near impalement of his face would stick with his memories for a while. It felt like something of which he'd remember clearly for the rest of his life.

Like him and Pikachu coming to understand each other after the Spearow, or the thrill of catching his first Pokemon in Caterpie, or the effort to get Pidgeotto captured.

"Hey!"

A sharp shout rang through the air, causing him to pause mid-step to pick up Weedle's Pokeball.

He looked up to see another human approaching, looking around his age and dressed in armor for some reason.

The armor was black and red, with a few dents in it that Ash suspected were from the armor being what it was intended to be and not because he backed into something. A net was hung over his shoulder like a sword might be, and rather like the actual sword slung over the other shoulder.

He couldn't see the armored kid's hair, but his body was larger than Ash's own, though he couldn't tell if it was muscle or some other form of bulk.

He picked up Weedle's ball, which further incensed the armored trainer.

"Did I say you could take that Weedle?"

Ash could only stare at the angry tone he was being given, even as he noticed Butterfree, Pidgeotto, and Pikachu tense, as if ready to go and fight this person.

If he was a trainer, and not just some random person yelling at him like he was stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, that might be the case.

"I caught it, so I really don't see why you think you can say I can't take Weedle."

"That Weedle was my quarry, and you have taken it from me. I demand compensation!"

Ash stared at the armored one in confusion.

"He was your pit you mine stones from? Weedle's not a rock-type."

"That is not what I meant!"

The armored trainer, after an admittedly impressive stomp into the earth, seemed to look him over for a moment, before his annoyed look broke into a bit of a grin.

"Tell me, do you hail from Pallet Town like the others?"

Ash blinked at the question, but blinked and patted himself on the chest a bit.

"Sure am. I'm the best."

"Yet you are also the last, and clearly if these are not only all the Pokemon you have, but also that you have been reduced to ravaging berry patches, you clearly are not the best. The opposite is true I suspect."

Ash felt like he had just been splashed with a water balloon.

"I battled all of them in glorious battle, and you are the last one to come before me."

His Pokemon tensed again, and Ash had a rush come over him now.

A rush to have his first battle, a rush to have his first victory.

A rush to make this guy eat his words about him being the worst!

"I'll take you on! How many Pokemon you've got, I'll beat them all!"

The armored trainer chuckled, though with a bit less arrogance this time. It was a bit nervous sounding, truth be told.

"I'd love to smash you with the strength of my prized Pokemon, but unfortunately they are still recovering. Your betters from Pallet are not, truth be, as far ahead of you as your struggles might imply. No, we will battle in a different way."

Battle in a different way, in what dance?

"Look, your wounded pride is bad and all, but if you aren't going to battle me with Pokemon I don't have time for it. I'm just going to walk away and out of this forest."

Yeah, that was the way to handle this. It sounded rather adult.

The guy dressed like a samurai chuckled, so Ash moved to counter him.

"Oh, and don't think that you can call me a coward or anything. You said it yourself that your Pokemon are all exhausted, and it isn't cowardly to not want to get into a dance fight or something else stupid."

"Pikapi."

He had to agree with Pikachu's squeak there, that was less adult sounding than his last statement. Still, it probably covered him.

"A dance battle? That is hardly what I am offering as my challenge. As to why you should partake in it, well the path out of this forest is easy enough to hold. I mean you could always go off the path..."

The tone the armored youth took on at the end was said in a faux innocent, emphasized by a rustling in the bushes that reminded one of why you didn't go off the path.

"Alright, if you'd actually stop being in my way when I beat you."

With that declaration Ash followed the obstructing one down a side path, in a set up that he was pretty sure would make his mom worry if she was watching the murder channel again.

…

While there was no stabbing down the shady path, there was a ruined truck. Which indeed did have some evidence of having been _stabbed _itself at some point.

Or whatever you would call the various holes pierced through its front window with something that was more akin to a spear than a knife.

With a bit more jumping dexterity than Ash would have assumed the armored kid could have pulled off he jumped up into the truck and began rummaging inside. The vehicle shook a bit, dislodging a bit of foliage from the large trailer that stood behind it.

This resulted in a retro looking Silph Co. logo being flashed his way.

"There aren't any bodies in there, right?"

"Chu?"

His progress halter didn't respond, and emerged a few minutes later returned carrying two dusty boxes, on top of which stood an old looking clock.

He recognized the clock, as surprising as that might be.

"Isn't that one of those old clocks that got banned from all major cities because of how loud they are, and then all towns because of the same reason?"

His grandmother has used one, much to his mother's chagrin. He recalled his mom's thirtieth birthday where she smashed the thing as part of her celebration. It was honestly a scary sight.

His mother's mallet skills aside, the armored kid began fiddling with the clock, his two boxes plopping to the ground in plumes of dust.

"Certainly, and I see you know how loud it will be when it goes off. This will be our timer, and once it goes off I'd expect you to return to this place to show me your metal. With these metals."

With that the obstructer opened a box dramatically, revealing blue orbs capped with red lines that resembled an S. Ash had never seen one of them before, but he did know what they were.

"Great balls?"

"Pika?"

With a kick the second, unopened box was sent his way, sliding along the grass with a creak. The contents of the box banged about within, sounding like balls.

He took to his knee to verify what sort of ball, which were indeed the same as his opponent's.

"I shall set this alarm for five hours. In that time we will engage in a capture competition. Whoever captures the most Pokemon in that time will be victorious. If you win you will be allowed to pass along the path. If I win you will have to prove yourself in battle, and if you are not a master of capture battle is certainly beyond you. "

Looking down at the box of balls, Ash couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't simply take the balls and skedaddle down the path when Samurai wasn't looking.

The answer came from a feeling of pride that washed over him, a sense that chained his ankles against the idea of running away.

"Be free to use your own supply if you run out. Should we tie battle will determine the victor. Also should one of us feel we captured a superior Pokemon despite numbers, say as an example a Pinsir or Scyther, we may battle. However it will not be an equal footing, so only declare that if you are willing to battle against superior numbers."

"So six at the most?"

The armored trainer stared at him like he was an idiot, which he wasn't!

At least in this case.

He knew very well that you were only supposed to have six Pokemon on you at a given time. If he caught a seventh Pokemon it would be teleported into Professor Oak's possession.

The old man had reminded him of that, and he hadn't forgotten that point.

"If you are worried about your Pokeballs being sent off, you can do what the one called Gary did and just turn the feature off. The Pokeball will simply be locked until you transport the ball you actually wish back, that is how it works for the rest of us."

Ash had no idea what bothered him more about that statement: the jerk blocking him telling him he was being an idiot, or that the solution was suggested per what Gary had been doing.

"Deactivating auto-transport feature. The feature can be reactivated upon your command."

Thankfully the Pokedex spared him the embarrassment of having to fumble around and figure out how to turn the feature off.

…

"Ree?"

Butterfree let out a sound.

It was the best he could call it. It wasn't a chirp or a squeak or anything he could give a specific word to, so it was a sound. The sound was worried sounding though.

"You worried we won't win? Don't worry about that: you three are better than anything he has."

That didn't seem to make Butterfree feel better, and he stopped.

What might be bugging Butterfree? Was it a worry he'd capture another Butterfree and replace him?

That didn't quite feel like it was the problem though.

Looking into Butterfree's eyes he tried to figure out what might be the problem, though after a bit of this his attention was drawn to a hollow in a nearby tree.

He saw something skittering around in it.

"Pidgeotto, slam that tree!"

He couldn't figure out what was getting to Butterfree, but he could still make some progress.

At his call Pidgeotto struck the tree with a slam of her wing, shaking the tree and sending what existed within out.

A small Pokemon, green with yellow and black limbs.

"Spinarak, the String Spit Pokemon more common in Johto than in the Kanto region. This Pokemon captures prey in a silky web after patiently waiting to finish thmee off."

Ash acknowledged the point, and took a moment to internalize the new Pokemon's appearance, before tossing a Great Ball at the flung bug.

It struck and sucked the little bug inside, and clicked rather quickly.

"Yeah! That's one! Good one Pidgeotto!"

The bird Pokemon nodded at her praise, though as he picked up the sealed Great Ball and looked he noticed that Butterfree was still looking a bit bothered.

He still didn't know why.

…

It was occasionally suggested that Pokemon Professors wanted their trainers to capture each and every Pokemon that was out there. There was some truth to that idea.

However after he had finished drilling the team limit into his head, Professor Oak had clarified a bit. He did not need every Pokemon in the world, but he did want Pokemon.

It helped his research, with Pokemon from all corners and species being incredibly useful for gathering the best data possible.

He didn't want them to catch them all, he wanted them to catch a lot, which was what he was doing.

"Pikachu, Thundershock!"

The electrical blast that his first Pokemon was sending out was aimed at the occupant of the rotting log he had broken up. A Paras, a Bug-Grass type that was currently trying to block the electrical blast with a pincer.

This failed, and the little mushroom Pokemon was now being electrified.

"Great ball, go!"

This was followed up by the second capture of the challenge, with Paras being sucked into the ball and staying there.

"I caught Paras! Pikachu good job!"

Pikachu cheered at the capture, though as he belted the ball to his side for later he couldn't help feel something.

Or rather, a lack of something.

"…You guys feeling anything from that one?"

Pikachu, Butterfree, and Pidgeotto all looked at him, and he elaborated.

"I don't know about you guys, but normally I feel a bit more of a surge in enthusiasm and elation when I catch a Pokemon. You two and Weedle, I felt good for it. I, honestly didn't feel that with Paras, and I only sort of felt it with Spinarak just earlier. I mean I felt good that I had noticed it, but the capture is just, well just."

Pikachu let out an 'hmm' like sound that Pidgeotto also tried to imitate. Buttefree stared at him, and Ash wondered if it had anything to do with Butterfree's earlier concerns.

"You know, maybe it's all in the challenge? These new balls and our skills must be making this seem like childsplay. We've all gotten better even without the super balls, so perhaps we just need to find stronger Pokemon to try and capture."

As he said the words, Ash had to admit that didn't feel like the reason. It just sounded like an answer, and less like the answer in of itself.

It also, honestly, felt off for another reason. One he couldn't quite put his finger on.

A buzz rang through the trees, raising every goose bump on his body. In the distance he saw stripes of yellow and black buzz through the trees.

"Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokemon and the final evolved form of Weedle. Beedrill is a swarming Pokemon feared for being dangerous. Disturbing a Beedrill hive is unwise. In regions they co-exist, they do not get along with the Pokemon Vespiquen, Combee, Cutiefly, and Ribombee, among others."

With that listing of Pokemon he didn't know Ash felt his hand twitch, reaching for the Great Balls.

A Beedrill was certainly a good way to test the idea that it was a lack of challenge that was bugging him. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but remember the Pokemon he had captured to get to this point. Weedle.

"…If I caught another one of your species, would you guys be annoyed? Honest question."

At this question his three main Pokemon stared at him, but gave their responses in turn.

Butterfree gave an honest sound in that it would bother him, Pidgeotto nodded but with a sense of reservation, while Pikachu huffed as if he could ever think of needing more than him.

It would be unfair to Weedle to capture a Beedrill.

'_Perhaps you just don't want to win. A Beedrill counts towards our contest, and if you want to challenge my obviously superior skills it would be valiant warrior!' _

He could, however, honestly hear his competitor in his head, egging him to go catch one like a discount Gary.

He shook his head to dispel the thought, and walked away from the Beedrill. Though his feet felt heavier than usual as he did so.

…

He was at his sixth Pokemon, pursuing a seventh as it rolled down a hill after a badly targeted Thunderbolt, and that lack of a feeling was still hanging over him like a fog.

Spinarak, Paras, Ledyba, Venonat, Shuckle, and Bellsprout had, after Spinarak, honestly left him feeling little for capturing them.

Even with the effort it took to get Shuckle out of its rocky hiding place, it hadn't felt like anything.

It was starting to get a bit disheartening if he had to be honest with himself.

He wondered if this current pursuit would alleviate the problem or not, as it was certainly putting in the effort.

"Pineco, get back here!"

At his shout the Pokemon he had knocked from a tree fired Pin Missile at him. He scrambled to avoid the attack, while Pikachu jumped and stumbled out of the way of it.

Pidgeotto and Buttefree were flying, so it wasn't as hard for them to keep their feet stable here.

He had a Great Ball in hand, but with Pineco as far ahead as it was he doubted he could hope to hit it without missing.

Though he did see something that made his issue a little simpler.

"Great ball, go!"

With that, he sent the ball flying.

Aimed right for the end of the slope, just where Pineco would start to slow down.

It was a carefully considered throw, one that required all the skills he had practiced with sports in the school yards, rocks in the forest, and motions made late at night where no one could see him.

It struck Pineco just short of its center, sucking the once-hanging bug inside itself and clattering to the ground.

It cinched the capture just as he got to the bottom, and after a bit of flailing to slow down and not fall, he darted up to the seventh capture today and held it up high.

"I caught a Pineco….and it still feels off."

At least until he felt his arm sag down, unable to keep aloft with the power of enthusiasm.

Pikachu, who looked like he might not have landed as well from the hill slope, trotted up to him and looked at him in concern.

"Pikapi?"

"I just don't get it. I spotted Pineco hanging in that tree like Spinarak, and I had to chase it down this hill to catch it at all. That should be a thrill, a feeling that I achieved something. But it really isn't."

Pidgeotto and Butterfree fluttered overhead as he walked with Pineco's ball in the palm of his hand.

"I like bugs. I don't see any of the Pokemon I caught as lame or anything like that. Sure I am not the biggest Bellsprout fan, but I should still be happy I caught one. With both Bellsprout and Pikachu, Gary's Squirtle should be toast. I should be happy about that."

"I'm doing what I want to do, so where is the spark?"

The spark might have been his foot, which then banged into something in searing pain.

A swear and a toe rub later he was up for looking up at what he had stubbed his toe into: a wooden shrine with a faded, long forgotten look to it.

It was more abandoned than that racer car he found under his bed just before he left, though it didn't seem as dusty.

"Pika."

Pikachu stared at the shrine with a gasp that almost sounded awed. As he glanced over he noticed similar surprised looks on Butterfree and Pidgeotto.

"You guys know what this is?"

"Caw."

He was sure that answer would be more helpful if he was a Pokemon.

Looking back to the shrine, he noticed what almost looked like handled, akin to what his mom had on her dresser. Pull them and open it right up.

"…You guys won't burn me for heresy if I open this will you?"

He'd like to know more about what had struck his toe. Also perhaps some ancient theology would give him an idea of what was bugging him.

It was better than just venting into the woods, and with less chance of Beedrill swarm.

At the negative chirps he took a gloved hand each on the handles, glad for the splinter buffer, and with all of his might he pulled.

The hinges creaked and the wood sputtered, but he opened the shrine wide open despite their protest to the contrary, bathing him in a light-blue light.

The light briefly blinded him, but as he adjusted to the light within the shrine he found himself staring at a blue gear, spinning in place like any other gear might.

Just floating, and glowing, and without any sign of what was making the gear spin.

Surrounding it were encroaching vines, though not like any vine he had seen around before. They were pitch black, with blood red thorns that stood out in sharp points that were less like needles and more akin to daggers. The wood around where they climbed looked warped and weak, and it might have just been his imagination but the vine seemed to be pulsing, beating almost.

"You know I was expecting something, but this isn't it."

Really, it wasn't. He was just expecting to see something written in a language he couldn't read. It could be something he couldn't make heads or tails of, or even just be one of the languages that Gary had learned as an elective in school.

He'd be unable to comprehend it, but at least he'd have a mental Gary in his head declaring him a loser for not being able to read dead languages.

"No data."

The Pokedex didn't give him anything on what this might be, which meant it was at least not a Pokemon.

"You guys know what this thing is?"

He turned back to his trio of Pokemon, who were staring at the floating gear the way one might stare at a tornado.

He slowly turned back to look at the gear, then back to his still horrified Pokemon.

"That gear isn't going to eat my soul, right?"

Slowly they all shook their heads to the negative.

"Kill us?"

The gave the same response, and as they were too terrified to speak anything further he turned back to the gear and the rather evil looking vines snaking up towards it.

He looked at the gears that terrified his first three Pokemon, and the vines that reached towards it that set off various alarm bells in his ear that meant 'evil'.

He then began walking closer to both, his better hand snaking around and into his backpack, rummaging within.

"Pikapi!"

He ignored Pikachu's shout at him to not approach the gear as he found what he was looking for within, and snapped it open. His fingers began rummaging around for another few moments, before the tips of them snagged around the tool he was looking for.

After all he did have classes while Gary was learning dead root languages. Among them were the practical arts.

He didn't need a class on a pair of serious metal snippers like what he had just pulled out of his tool case, but it had made his mom decide on a tool set as part of the 'going away' supply set.

From that series of events came the snipping of vines, the evil foliage disintegrating as the bits fell. It released a rather foul odor as their only legacy.

Yet still he snipped away at the vines, regardless of their odd decay and horrid odor. The gear spun un, unaware of the vines that were cut away at his hand.

When he reached the corner of the shrine when they risen from he clasped the vine with a unpressured grip and pulled. He didn't feel anything from when they had originated, and the vine was cut loose faded away just like any cutting.

He repeated this with the other vines, before stepping back and turning to his stunned Pokemon.

"So, think I just did something cool, or was that just dramatic weeding?"

"Biii!"

The response given didn't sound like them, or like any Pokemon he had heard before.

His Pokemon all swerved their gazes upward, so he followed them up to see the unfamiliar Pokemon that went with the unfamiliar sound.

A green Pokemon was floating there. The head of this Pokemon reminded him a bit of an onion, with a pair of bug-like antenna. Large blue eyes seemed to beam at him in appreciation and curiosity.

"Bii!"

"Celebi, the time travel Pokemon and guardian of the forest. A Grass-Psychic type."

The Pokedex at least cleared that up. He had a name for this Pokemon, who was now flying over to his hand and actively shaking it.

"Are you thanking me?"

The little Pokemon nodded.

Oh, well that was nice he guessed. He didn't really do much, just snip a few plants that died oddly.

"Biii bii biii!"

Celebi popped away from him, and was gesturing at him. He wasn't entirely sure what it was trying to say though. He'd take a guess though.

"Are you saying that you owe me?"

He was fully prepared to step back if he got it wrong and the Celebi tried to attack him, but Celebi nodded in agreement.

'_Ask it if it wants to go with you_.'

That was what he wanted to ask, and it was probably what he should be asking. It was pushing it more than trying to get an expensive toy while grocery shopping, but it was something that he had to ask.

That he should ask.

Yet, he didn't reach for a great ball.

What if the lack of an accomplishment stuck to this one? If he didn't feel thrilled about catching a Celebi, than what was there after that?

"Can you tell me why I haven't been enjoying catching Pokemon?!"

The words blurted out of his mouth, which drew all of his Pokemon to stare at him in shock and Celebi to look at him in confusion.

He felt the same, but he couldn't put the question back in. So, he was stuck with it.

"I mean it's dumb and I'm probably going to be called an idiot if I ever mention this story to anyone else…"

He ignored Pikachu nodding in agreement with his point, he couldn't see his partner but he knew that was what he was doing.

"… but I, I just want an answer. I've always wanted to be a Pokemon trainer, a Pokemon master even. That means catching Pokemon, and I liked catching Caterpie, I liked catching Pidgeotto, I liked catching Weedle. But the Pokemon I caught for this stupid contest with a jerk in armor…I am just not feeling anything. Am I doing something wrong? Do I not like catching Pokemon as much as I thought I would?"

That last sentence coming out felt like he was admitting a sin.

Celebi put a finger to its mouth, as if contemplating his question, before snapping that very same finger in a little finger snap.

"Bii!"

Ash was going to ask for clarity on that one, before he noticed that the forest was spinning around him, and glowing brightly.

Before he could scream in terror, the spinning and glowing stopped, and he felt the scream retreat down his throat like a swallowed wad of vomit.

Given that he was feeling a bit dizzy, that disgusting comparison was warranted.

"Okay, what just…."

"Ha ha ha!"

A cheer rang out in the forest, piercing through the forest like a crack of laughter. It was familiar, though Ash couldn't say why.

Not even just to him, seeing as Pikachu, Butterfree, and Pidgeotto also seemed to recognize it.

Which was odd: he couldn't think who all of them knew. If it was just Pikachu, he could sort of see it being Professor Oak with a bit of a less crotchety voice.

So who could be doing the shouting?

The forest was odd too now that he got a better look at it. The trees were different, as were the ground plants. It seemed almost tropical, and he was starting to feel the heat on his skin that tropical would probably bring with it.

Were they in a different forest?

"I caught a Grubbin! I caught a Grubbin!"

"Pi-Pikachu!"

From the tropical brush a dark haired trainer burst out. Dressed in blue and white for a tropical area, he was wearing a rather nice hat and had a pair of marks on his cheeks that looked like the letter z.

It was sort of like how his face was always described, and this older trainer looked rather a lot like him…

Then a Pikachu burst out of the bushes and began dancing and cheering with the tropical trainer, and Ash had a suspicion who the trainer was.

Even as he didn't seem to notice them, Ash was pretty sure he had a name for him.

"Is that me in the future?"

He turned to Celebi, wondering if he'd be told this was actually his father, or his long-lost brother, or something far less strange.

Celebi nodded, confirming it was in fact the strange option.

Ash turned back to his dancing future counterpart and his own Pikachu, who were still unaware that they were being watched by time travelers as they danced the….dance of joy?

Celebration?

Fulfillment and having a lovely time?

"Well, I suppose I don't like bad in the future, that's good to know."

What else was there to say? He was watching his future-self dance in a tropical forest after all. It was not the most common situation.

"Pikapi?"

"Free?"

"Got?"

"Yeah, I was wondering what a Grubbin is. Pokedex, can you tell me?"

"SPACE IS WARPED AND TIME IS BENDABLE! COMPUTATION ERROR! COMPUTATION ERROR! DATA DOWNLOAD ERROR!"

His future-self was still dancing, and not paying attention to the whining shrill of a confused machine.

"So, I do still find catching Pokemon enjoyable. So, why wasn't I earlier? Was it because it was too easy with great balls, or was it because I was being forced too?"

Those were the first two ideas that came to mind, and he could probably think of a few more. He turned to Celebi, who shrugged.

Well, that wasn't helpful.

He pointed to his still oblivious counterpart.

"Can I ask him?"

Celebi's head shook vigorously to the negative.

Oh, that was a bummer.

With that question the forest warped again, and he found himself back at the shrine in Viridian Forest, with Celebi still floating around and having not departed him.

Celebi then floated over to him and picked up Pineco's great ball, holding it up before floating it up in the air and created six duplicates of it.

That added up to seven, which was how many bug-types (and Bellsprout) he had caught for this contest.

He wasn't sure where Celebi was getting at, before forty great ball duplicated appeared opposite of them.

Now he got it.

"I'm…not going to win this catching contest by catching Pokemon am I?"

Celebi, Pikachu, and Pidgeotto nodded in confirmation, while Butterefree let out a wise sounding cry.

He turned his hat around, ready to begin to think on how he might counter the numbers game with pure battling. He could win such a battle….maybe.

Could he go try and find a Spearow?

Or would it be better to ask Celebi to travel through time and see every possible battle outcome so he could try and take the right path to victory. Perhaps even taking him back in time every time he started to lose against the armored jerk until he found a way to win against him.

"Bii!"

Before if he could suggest something akin to soft resetting Celebi warped time again.

"Nooooo!"

The Pokedex's scream did not dissuade this, and before the swirling stopped he already began shivering. His breath began to spread out from his mouth in a cold mist, and his feet crunched down on a light layer of snow.

Looking up to the no longer warping sky, and he saw a thick cloud cover that promised more snow than a mere light layer.

A creek snaked through clearing they had teleported into, and the forest seemed to be the Viridian Forest, just at a different point in time.

A Pokemon was present here: a pink humanoid Pokemon with white and brown on its body at various points. The head of the Pokemon was somewhat spiked, and it was shivering in the cold.

He felt a twitch to get Pikachu to attack it, or even to just throw a great ball at it, but he resisted both urges (and the latter rather easily to a point he barely noticed the feeling).

He walked towards the Pokemon, the crunch of snow at the bottom of his sneakers drawing the Pokemon's attention to him.

Yellow eyes bored into his own, and he smiled at the Pokemon.

"My name's Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I was wondering if you might want to come with me? It would certainly be warmer, and I think the time traveling Pokemon won't let me go home if you don't?"

"Biii!"

Celebi chirped in agreement, and he was met with a stubborn glare into his soul.

He might be here a while.

"I want to become the world's greatest Pokemon master, win the Pokemon League, and see all the world has to offer. I want to be the very best, like no one ever was."

Surprisingly his earnest words seemed to get the Pokemon to stop glaring at him, and look at him more akin to acknowledging a kindred spirits.

"I CAN'T FIND A WI-FI CONNECTION! ERROR! NO DATE AVALIABLE!"

Hopefully he'd find out what the Pokemon's name was, even without the Pokedex available to shout it out.

Though as he kept talking with the Pokemon instead of just throwing a ball or attacking it at random, he felt a sense of building excitement he hadn't felt since earlier in what his body would call a day.

Back when he had encountered Weedle.

…

He stood, his samurai armor muddied with twigs and branches.

Part of him wished he had cleaned it out before he proved himself to the Pallet Town trainer, but he was not going to risk his defeat at his hands by taking the time for vanity.

It was the fool who lost because he assumed twenty-nine would win just as easily as forty.

Said forty were lay out of him: the balls sitting plain to see and count for when his opponent arrived.

Many scoffed at such numbers. They were, as such people would say, just bugs. Bugs and the occasional Mankey or Pidgey.

That might be true, but the strength of the bug-type was not in power, but in numbers. Bugs swarmed their opponent; that was how it was in true battle.

A Pokemon battle by trainers may have more honor to it, but such battles had their time and their place.

That time and place was not long for the world. The world had existed in its current state for decades, and the wear was showing.

Soon the current world would collapse, and he would be prepared in his forest fortress with an army of bugs to weather the storm!

There were people who called him crazy, for wearing antiquated armor and speaking of society collapse being imminent. They underestimated the ability of armor to take a Beedrill stinger and immobilize the bug for capture.

They also overestimated society's stability, simply choosing to ignore the cracks that were growing larger every year.

Truth aside, he saw his challenger approach him, seven Pokemon accompanying him. Only one of them was one he had before their contest, and he suspected that was only present because of a loophole.

The Pikachu.

He grinned as his opponent came to him.

"With such an approach, you must be planning to battle me. If those six Pokemon are all you have to face me, I must admire your courage as much as I shake my head at your foolishness. Though I will offer you credit for finding Pokemon I had never encountered myself in this forest. Even in defeat, know that you have accomplished something."

The last of Pallet Town grinned right back at him, and it was one with confidence mirroring his own.

"I have seven other Pokemon I caught with your great balls, but I don't think I'll be needing them."

At these words the pink and muscled Pokemon tensed, as if ready to run into the fight immediately. A solid brown grass type in the shape of a bonsai tree began crying for some reason. A lighter brown Pokemon with a skull for a head clutched a bone like he would his sword. A pitch black Pokemon with sharp claws scratched at the air in front of it. A third brown Pokemon with a crescent on its head stuck a tongue at him mockingly. Finally a pink, most girlish Pokemon growled at him, exposing sharp fangs.

"I shall make you eat those worlds! Beedrill number 32, go!"

"Tyrouge, I choose you!"

…

"You know, I'm amazed you actually believe me."

For the two days it took to get to Pewter City afterwards, it felt like a lot longer journey.

Yet Ash found himself in the Pokemon Center, finishing his story to the nodding Professor.

" I am constantly getting data from your Pokedex, so I am aware of the time travel, and even if I wasn't I was informed of your thirteen captures that day, and only one of them with the pokeballs I had provided you. I also have encountered Celebi before, so I am well aware of time travel."

"Pi!?"

He agreed with his partner's surprised reaction at the old man, shoving his face in closer to try and get more details.

He wasn't sure how shoving his face closer would get them, but he couldn't help but do it.

"Really!?"

The old man nodded, grinning a huge grin.

"Oh yes, it was an experience for a life time. But now is not the time to tell it, even with time travel being involved. You're learn about it someday."

He pulled his head back from the screen, giving the Professor a 'really' look as he did so.

That was just a non-answer so he wouldn't have to give one. What, was he just going to stumble into that story at some point or something?

Though he had to admit, that seemed a bit more likely after the whole Celebi thing.

"So I hope you don't mind, but I think from now one I'm not going to be capturing that many Pokemon. I want it to mean something, more than just capturing, if that makes any sense. I don't need to save every Pokemon I get from freezing to death or being killed by rain or something like that, but I always want to feel that feeling of excitement while I'm doing it. You get that, right?"

It was a relief to see the Professor nod in agreement.

"Certainly. No one ever captures them all, and no one expects you to my boy. I'll help you with any Pokemon you do catch same as ever, be it if you send me fifty more or five more. I will never be without Pokemon after all: my grandson alone will see to that."

"Yeah that…that is wonderful. Glad you are seeing the positives."

He…really couldn't give the professor a legitimate smile at that one. Just because he realized he would never be happy capturing everything he saw didn't mean he needed to be reminded Gary was perfectly okay with doing so.

"Certainly a positive. He's already doing so after he won the Boulder Badge. Best not let him get too far ahead of you my boy. Ta ta!"

With that the call ended, and Ash felt no desire to stop his eye from twitching at the now black monitor screen.

Not even Pikachu chuckling at him was reason enough.

**END STORY:**

Yeah, this was a bit longer and harder than planned, but it's done. A bit of a new take on the often done episode four, and a possible start of a new universe of stories set in this little Earth 031619 for some Pokemon ideas that aren't quite 'Shudo cross Modern Ash' type tales.

Also getting it out of my system helps Reset flow.

Pokemon List:

**Ash Ketchum: Age 13 from Pallet Town. Birthday May 22nd. Height Five foot Five.**

**Pikachu: Male, Obtained Pallet Town**

**Butterfree: Male, obtained Viridian Forest as Caterpie**

**Pidgeotto: Female, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Kakuna: Male, obtained Viridain Forest as Weedle**

**Spinarak: Male, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Paras: Male, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Ledyba: Female, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Venonat: Female, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Shuckle: Male, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Bellsprout: Female, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Pineco: Male, obtained Viridian Forest**

**Tyrouge : Male, obtained Viridian Forest three years ago, original death exposure**

**Bonsly: Male, obtained Viridian Forest a year ago, original death water intoxication from rain storm**

**Cubone: Male, obtained Viridian Forest six months ago, originally in transport to Team Rocket facility for harvest. Cubone not born in Kanto region.**

**Sneasel: Male, obtained Viridian Forest two years ago, original death by defensive mother Pokemon defending egg.**

**Teddiursa: Female, obtained Viridian Forest twelve years ago. Original death violent death by Beedrill**

**Snubbull: Female, obtained Viridian Forest five years ago. Original death consumption of poisonous plant matter.**


End file.
